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Philadelphia

Activists Take Over Harris’ Campaign Office Demanding: ‘Release One NOW!’

September 17, 2024 Joe Piette, Workers' World. , , , , ,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Southeast Asian community members and allies held a peaceful sit-in for over three hours inside the Harris/Walz campaign office in the Brewerytown section of Philadelphia on Sept. 9. They were demanding the Biden/Harris administration release Southeast Asian refugee Sereyrath “One” Van from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention and order a moratorium on deportations through the end of their term. The sit-in began when six Southeast Asian community members and allies attending a weekday canvassing session at Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign office sat down on the floor, held up signs and chanted: “Release One NOW! Moratorium NOW! Not One More!”

Protest Near Presidential Debate Opposes Bipartisan Support For Israel

September 11, 2024 Unicorn Riot. , , , , , , , ,
Philadelphia, PA – Protesters opposing the ongoing Israeli genocide in occupied Palestine are gathering near the security perimeter erected outside the National Constitution Center — the site of the first debate between 2024 presidential candidates Kamala Harris (D) and Donald Trump (R). A call to “shut down the presidential debate for Gaza” was announced by the Philly Palestine Coalition to rally at City Hall, which is east of the debate site. Pennsylvania is considered the largest swing state in the presidential election. The statewide winner will take all 19 electoral votes. Street closures entered effect Tuesday morning on Arch and Market streets between 4th and 7th streets in Philadelphia’s historic Old City east of Center City.

The People Versus The Billionaires

September 11, 2024 Betsey Piette, Workers' World. , , , , , ,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Several thousand people turned out for the Save Chinatown Coalition rally on Sept. 7 to protest the Philadelphia 76ers’ proposal to build a new $1.55 billion arena near Chinatown called “76 Place.” While the National Basketball Association team’s billionaire owners repeatedly say a new arena at 10th and Market streets would provide “economic opportunity for surrounding areas,” community residents, who have been fighting this proposal for over two years, argue that it would be an “existential threat” to this historic Philadelphia neighborhood. The impact studies commissioned by the city, released in late August, support the residents’ arguments.

‘Gross Human Rights Violations’ At ICE Detention Center

September 10, 2024 Joe Piette, Workers' World. , , , , , ,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - When immigrants are picked up from their communities and eventually detained at Moshannon Valley Processing Center, Pennsylvania’s largest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center, they are forced to endure “punitive, inhumane and dangerous conditions.” The charge of “widespread human rights violations” was made in a report by the Stephen and Sandra Sheller Center for Social Justice, with support from the Pennsylvania American Civil Liberties Union. Entitled “In the Shadow of the Valley: The Unnecessary Confinement and Dehumanizing Conditions of People in Immigration Detention at Moshannon Valley Processing Center,” the report was released at a press conference at Temple University Beasley School of Law on Sept. 4.

The Battle For Car-Free Streets And Community Celebration

July 23, 2024 Asia Mieleszko, Resilience. , , , , ,
I first found myself in West Philadelphia in 2019 during Porchfest, an annual music festival that exists because approximately two square miles of Philadelphians collectively decide it should. And so it does, whether the city grants the annually requested street closures or not. In 2019, almost every other street was closed to motorized traffic, lined with rehomed cones and handmade signs stretching from one end of the intersection to the other to communicate the closure. Free from cars, the streets welcomed sprinklers, grills and bouncy castles. Swarms of kids muraled the asphalt with chalk while musicians crooned from the hallmark wooden porches of West Philly’s twin Victorian homes.

NEA Educators For Palestine Call On Union To Un-Endorse Biden

July 11, 2024 Betsey Piette, Workers World. , , , , , , , ,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Hundreds of educators held a pro-Palestine rally outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia on July 3. They were participating in the National Education Association Representative Assembly, where they planned to introduce 10 New Business items (NBIs) involving education around Palestine, U.S. military spending in support of Israel, support for boycotts targeting Israel  and solidarity with Palestinian unions and with teachers in the U.S. engaged in protests against the genocide in Gaza. The rally was called by NEA Educators for Palestine, who are also pushing the U.S.’s largest teachers’ union to hold a secret ballot vote to rescind its endorsement of President Joe Biden.

In Philly, The People’s Budget Increases Civic Engagement And Moves Money

June 24, 2024 Ryan Moser, Next City. , , , ,
If you’ve walked through LOVE Park during May and June the last two years, you have undoubtedly seen a long shipping container anchored in the northwest corner of JFK Plaza, a cherry-red beacon sitting in the shadow of Philadelphia’s historic City Hall. Part public art installation and part information center, the corten steel box is the temporary office of The People’s Budget, one piece of an initiative led by artist Phoebe Bachman of Mural Arts of Philadelphia, and funded by the City of Philadelphia. Founded in 2020, The People’s Budget empowers Philadelphians to participate in the city’s yearly budget process and join the conversation to decide where city funds are spent.

Philadelphia’s Reforestation Hub Isn’t Just Diverting Tree Waste

June 2, 2024 Cinnamon Janzer, Next City. , , , ,
Each year, U.S. cities lose an estimated 36 million trees to development, disease and old age, many of which ultimately end up in landfills. Losing these urban trees – known to help cool their neighborhoods, lower carbon emissions and improve mental health, among other benefits – costs an estimated $96 million annually. In Philadelphia, a partnership is giving the City of Brotherly Love’s fallen trees new life. Philadelphia Parks & Rec joined forces with Cambium Carbon, a Washington, D.C.-based startup that repurposes waste wood, and PowerCorpsPHL, a local nonprofit that creates job opportunities for unemployed and under-employed 18- to 30-year-olds, to launch the Reforestation Hub in late May.

Philly Health Workers Say: ‘Bombing Hospitals Is A War Crime!’

May 28, 2024 Marie Kelly, Workers' World. , , , , , , , , ,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Philly Health Care Workers for Palestine (HCWL4Pal Philly), Families for Ceasefire, Drexel University Medical Students for Palestine, and the Philly Palestine Coalition gathered at Seger Park, just blocks away from Philadelphia’s Independence Hall on May 19. The purpose of the rally and march was to emphasize their unwavering support for health care workers in Gaza. Preparation for the event included art builds and securing speakers who could talk about the ongoing genocide and how it is has decimated the health care system in Gaza, targeting doctors, nurses and aid workers with unspeakable atrocities.

Drexel Students Set Up Palestine Encampment, Call For Divestment

May 22, 2024 Dan Feidt, Unicorn Riot. , , , , , , , ,
Philadelphia, PA — Students at Drexel University established an encampment in support of divesting from Israel on May 18, following a rainy Nakba Day commemoration march from Center City that started around 4 p.m. Philadelphia and Drexel police officers quickly surrounded the encampment with a ring of metal barricades and largely barred additional people from entering; this was apparently at the orders of Drexel’s campus police chief. There was a brief struggle over the metal barricade components, and at one point an officer brandished a Taser at the crowd but was pulled back by another, shortly after our reporters got onsite. As of late Monday the encampment was still in place.

UPenn Students Arrested At Palestine Demo After Building Occupation

May 19, 2024 Dan Feidt, Unicorn Riot. , , , , , ,
Philadelphia, PA – Nearly twenty University of Pennsylvania students and supporters were arrested after briefly occupying Fisher-Bennett Hall along 34th Street Friday night. Officers including UPenn’s Emergency Response Teams worked to shove hundreds of pro-Palestine demonstrators away from what they renamed Refaat Alareer Hall. (Alareer was a prominent Gaza professor killed by Israel late last year.) UPenn has also been a site of rallies against Ghost Robotics, an incubator spinoff company that has fast become a key world supplier of military robots including for Israel. We heard that the action was an extension of the UPenn protest encampment organizing that was swept by police action a week earlier, and was aimed at forcing UPenn to divest from companies that do business with Israel.

Penn For Palestine Encampment Still Going Strong

May 1, 2024 Betsey Piette, Workers' World. , , , , , ,
Joining around 80 college campuses across the United States, University of Pennsylvania students, faculty and staff established a Penn for Palestine encampment on the campus April 25 to demand: the administration disclose what companies they have invested billions of endowment funds in and that they divest from any that do business with Israel. Earlier in the day, demonstrators marched from Philadelphia City Hall, led by students from Temple University and activists with the Philadelphia Palestine Coalition to UPenn. En route to UPenn, several hundred people marched through Center City and received an overwhelmingly positive and supportive response from people along the route.

Hundreds March In Philadelphia To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal

April 30, 2024 Stephen Millies, Orinoco Tribune. , , ,
Hundreds of people marched through the streets of Philadelphia on April 24 to demand freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal. That day the world-renowned political prisoner turned 70 years old. Mumia Abu-Jamal has spent over 42 years in prison, including 29 years on death row, for a crime he didn’t commit. He was framed for the 1981 killing of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner. People gathered on the south side of Philadelphia’s City Hall in front of the statue of Octavius Catto. The Black educator and freedom fighter was assassinated by a racist in 1871 when Catto was 32 years old.

Philly Is Giving Free SEPTA Rides To 25,000 Low-Income Residents

April 26, 2024 Maylin Tu, Next City. , , ,
Getting to where you need to go is a matter of economic and social justice. Now, low-income Philadelphia residents are getting a boost. In August, the city began a two-year Zero Fare pilot program, distributing 25,000 SEPTA Key cards (valued at $204 each) for unlimited free rides — and the majority of participants don’t need to take any action to enroll. “Transportation has been identified as a barrier for folks seeking employment, especially in Philadelphia, because of the high poverty rate,” says Nicola Mammes, Zero Fare program director. Over 20% of Philadelphians live below the poverty line, and 50% of those households don’t own a car.

When You’re Unsheltered, ‘Public Safety’ Doesn’t Include You

April 24, 2024 Dionicia Roberson, Next City. , , , , , ,
I’m going to tell you something you already know: Every human being is entitled to a roof over their head and a place to sleep at night. This is an indisputable truth, part of the catechism of humanistic virtue. In a world that lived up to its self-professed ideals of opportunity, any condition of homelessness would be rare, brief and non-recurring. The reality is cultural attitudes toward impoverished people – fueled by toxic portrayals, fear mongering in the media and systematic dehumanization – have made homelessness not a community problem to be solved, but an individual offense to be punished, and defines those who suffer this condition as enemies to the idyllic peace of ‘good (read: housed and well-fed) people’.
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